Tennis defeats North Central

February 23, 2018

The men’s tennis team was back in action this past weekend in Chicago. On Sunday, the Scots took on two great competitors.
Their first matchup of the day was against North Central College. The Fighting Scots dominated the doubles matches as they won all three of the competitions against the Cardinals. Senior Dylan Wong and freshman Joseph Shie had the most commanding victory as they won their match 8-1. The other two Monmouth pairs won their matches 8-4.

The Scots also played well in the singles competitions as well. Shie, Landon Walker, and Ronnie Griffin all came away with victories and two other Scots pushed their matches to a third set.

Walker won his first set in commanding fashion 6-0. He then came back and won the second set 6-2 to add another win for the Scots. Griffin also swept his first 6-0 but had a tougher time in his second set. He eventually came away with the victory 6-4. Shie then disassembled his North Central competitor easily 6-2 and 6-2.

Paulo Pliego and Saxon Day also had great singles matches but didn’t come away successful. Pliego won the first set of his match 6-4 and lost a close set second set 6-7. In a decisive third set, Pliego fell 5-7 to lose a tough fought battle. Day also won his first set 6-3 but lost his final two sets 0-6, 1-6. The Scots came away with the win against North Central 6-3 which gave them their first victory of the season.

After their win against North Central, the Scots took on Illinois Institute of Technology. The men had some heartbreaking losses in the doubles matches as their #2 and #3 teams loss 6-8 and 5-8. However, Griffin and Walker teamed up and won their doubles competition 8-4 to keep them both undefeated on the day.

In the singles competitions, Pliego was the only Scot that came away with a victory. He dominated in the first set and won easily 6-2, but his Illinois Tech competitor made him work for the win in the second set. Pliego eventually was triumphant in the set 7-5 to give him his second singles victory of the day.

The Scots will have a couple weeks off from competition before they head down to Orlando, FL over Spring Break. Their first day of action down South will be on March 4th.